


The Forgotten Shadow

by Bytes



Category: Persona 4
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Closeted Character, M/M, Post-Canon, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-17
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-12 07:28:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29506218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bytes/pseuds/Bytes
Summary: After that fateful year in Inaba, the Investigation Team’s work in the shadow world was supposed to come to an end, and for a time, it did. When shadows suddenly start appearing once more, Yosuke doesn’t even know where to begin.
Relationships: Hanamura Yosuke/Narukami Yu, Hanamura Yosuke/Seta Souji
Kudos: 6
Collections: Unfinished





	The Forgotten Shadow

**Author's Note:**

> I am very unlikely to finish this so I am dropping it here as is. Please be aware of that if you choose to read!  
> That being said, feel free to use it as a prompt or continue it or whatever if you like, just ask me!

Yu Narukami was still a mysterious guy in certain ways, even after all the time Yosuke had gotten to know him that year he lived in Inaba. Faint questions like ‘why had Yu been chosen to wield the power of the wild card’ and ‘why did Yu not have a shadow self in the TV world’ faintly rattled in his mind. He didn’t dwell too much on it these days, it had been almost two years since the murders took place after all, and Yosuke knew he would never get the answers. Hell, his best friend didn’t even know.

Life had gotten somewhat normal ever since then, aside from a few incidents, which left the Junes heir with his future ahead of him. He had finished highschool and was taking a year off to figure out what he wanted to do with his life. Unfortunately, he was still working on that one. Chie had left Inaba to pursue her ambitions of becoming a cop, while Yukiko had partially taken over the inn when she wasn’t traveling. Naoto was away, busy with her duties as a renowned detective while Rise has returned to her career as an idol. Teddie on the other hand had returned to living in the TV world, though he visited very frequently. The only members of the investigation team who had stuck around were himself and Kanji, who was helping his mother with her textile shop.

Despite the distance as everyone resumed their lives, everyone remained in touch and always found themselves back in Inaba when they could. Especially for the holidays. Yu was no exception, choosing to stay with his uncle over Christmas break. He was technically attending college, albeit online, and spent his time when he wasn’t studying doing god knows what. But now he would be back. In fact, the whole team would eventually be back closer to the new year.

“Welcome back, Partner,” Yosuke had told the silver haired man when he arrived at the train station that brisk morning as he caught him up in an embrace. Yu had clutched his coat pretty hard during it, but Yosuke didn’t question it. He also took the slight melancholy in his tone when he pulled away from the hug as Yu being tired from the train ride. If he had known then what was to come, he would’ve kept holding onto him and not let go.

It wasn’t unlike Yu to forget to text back. He was a very busy guy after all. But alarm bells started going off when Yu didn’t show up to Junes after they had made plans to get food after Yosuke’s shift the day after he arrived. After not picking up when he called and not responding to texts, Yosuke took it upon himself to bike over to the Dojima residence. It was very unlike Yu to miss plans like this.

One conversation with Dojima later revealed that Yu was not home, and hadn’t been home all day. Perhaps he had gone out to run some errands and had gotten caught up in something? That was probably it. He’d probably get a call from him any time now apologizing for being late. Though Yosuke tried to placate his mind with this conclusion, there was a seed of doubt that nestled itself deep in his chest.

And right that seed of doubt had been, as multiple days had now passed and Yu was nowhere to be seen. Yosuke was now freaking out a little, even resorting to giving Kanji a call to see if he’d seen Yu. Of course, he hadn’t. So all he could do was wait and preoccupy himself with music as he worked on stocking up some things in the electronics department of Junes. That was, until a large form moving quickly in his peripheral caught his attention.

Yosuke turned to see the red and blue form of Teddie crashing out of their usual TV screen (why is was still there on display was anyone’s guess), rolling around on the floor in an attempt to regain his footing. How that bear had survived this long with that round body and tiny limbs was anyone’s guess. But that’s not what was important right now!

“Teddie?!” Yosuke exclaimed as he rushed forward.

“Agh! Give a bear a hand!” he whined.

“What the hell’s got you so worked up?” the chestnut haired boy inquired as he helped pull Teddie to his feet.

“It’s Sensei..!” the bear squawked, flailing his arms wildly in distress.

“Do you know where he is?!”

“Yeah! We were in the TV world… and things got crazy! All these shadows started appearing out of nowhere! Super strong ones..! Sensei and I tried to fight them off but it’s hard when it’s just the two of us..! I’m a rusty bear after all..!-

“Ted! Where is Yu?!” Yosuke interjected.

“He’s right here..!” Teddie took off his head, revealing Yu cocooned inside his hollow body. “I managed to get us both out of there, but… he got pretty beat up..”

“Partner..!” Yu had some visible cuts and bruises on his face, and he was breathing rather raggedly.

Yu weakly opened his eyes and looked up at Yosuke, smiling apologetically. “Sorry I worried you. I was just going to visit Teddie and, well… you can see what happened.”

“Shit, dude, are you okay? It’s been forever since we’ve had to fight any shadows..!”

“I’m fine. Just a little scratched up,” Yu assured.

The Junes Prince’s gaze softened a little with relief. “You scared me half to death, you know. Cmon, let’s patch you up.”

Yosuke led Teddie to the break room and helped carefully remove Yu from his body before taking a quick trip to the pharmacy section to pick up some bandages and other things to treat his partner’s wounds. The explanation could wait.

“Hold still,” Yosuke murmured as he focused on cleaning up the scratches on Yu’s face with disinfectant as the other had done for him so many times before. He was so focused on the task that he didn’t notice how close in proximity to his best friend he had gotten, nor the way Yu was studying his face. The curvature of his jaw to his warm brown eyes to the slight part in his lips, it was captivating. His gaze lingered there for a moment before he dropped it, looking down at the floor instead.

After Yu was sufficiently patched up, Yosuke took his lunch break to walk him back home. Nanako was very relieved that he was back, seeming to think he had spent the last few days at Yosuke’s house. That was definitely a more plausible scenario than being stuck in a TV with monsters. As for why he was so beat up… well, he decided to tell her that he fell off his scooter. Simple enough, right?

The Junes heir left him in Nanako’s hands, knowing full well she’d make sure he got some rest. She was a very responsible girl. He almost wished he had a younger sibling like her, but instead he had Teddie, technically. He was basically a Hanamura with how much time he spent at their house as well as working as the mascot of Junes.

The notion that shadows had returned to the TV world was worrying, but Yu was safe and home, and that’s what was important. They could figure that out after the holidays. Everything was fine and will be fine Yosuke told himself as he pushed that worry to the back of his mind and returned to work. A little hiccup wasn’t going to ruin the holidays or anything!

**Author's Note:**

> If you’re understandably unsatisfied since this was only just getting started, here’s the general plot I had in mind for this story:
> 
> Yu, having kept his feelings for Yosuke a secret for so long out of fear of rejection, developed a shadow that distorts the TV world back to its hostile days. He goes missing some time after initially getting attacked, having entered the TV world intending to take care of it by himself. After being gone for almost a week without contacting anyone, Yosuke goes in looking for him and comes face-to-face with the shadow of Yu, who is holding him hostage since he couldn’t bring himself to face it. The shadow reveals all of Yu’s repressed feelings, much to his dismay, but Yosuke defeats it and rescues him nonetheless. Yu is left bedridden from the injuries and fatigue he suffered from staying in the shadow world for so long. Yosuke visits him to take care of him, but is unable to bring up what happened until New Years Eve. After letting it gnaw at him, he finally gives in to his curiosity and asks Yu about everything his shadow said. Yu confirms that he does in fact have feelings for his best friend. Yosuke isn’t sure how to feel about the news, but assures Yu that he won’t stop being his partner. Later in the evening, they watch fireworks from the back porch since Yu is in no condition to travel. There, Yosuke asks Yu to kiss him, much to Yu’s surprise. Yu obliges, and Yosuke finds that instead of the discomfort he was expecting, he actually felt satisfied and happy, like it was natural and meant to happen. He explains his confused feelings to Yu and Yu assures him that he can take as long as he needs to figure things out, but no matter what they’ll always be Partners.


End file.
